Tag: December 17, 2012

BEYOND the walls of the University, danger prevails.

Crime incidence continued to increase in the university belt area (U-Belt) in the last quarter of the year, data from the University Belt Area (UBA) police station showed.

“This year, one university in U-belt recorded two cases: homicide and murder,” said Police Officer Shirley Inclan of Manila Police District Station 4 in Sampaloc.

Inclan was referring to the Oct. 2 incident wherein a former student of UST was stabbed inside the Far Eastern University (FEU) campus by a group of female students, while three members of FEU’s drum and bugle band were shot by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen last Dec. 4. Two of them were pronounced dead after being rushed to UST Hospital.

WITH PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III certifying it as "urgent," the controversial “reproductive health” (RH) bill passed on third and final reading in both houses of congress on Monday (Dec. 17), despite vigorous opposition from the Catholic Church and pro-life groups.

The “yes” vote in the House of Representatives ended with an overwhelming margin, with 133 voting in the affirmative, 79 negative, and seven abstentions. Of 287 lawmakers, 88 were absent during the deliberations. The House passed the bill – which provides for a national contraception and sterilization program as well as state-designed and compulsory sex education – on second reading on Wednesday last week.

Erlinda Fule, former dean of the Conservatory of Music, passed away last Dec. 13 due to multiple organ failure. She was 79.

Professor Fule, who served the University for 52 years, is considered one of the pillars of the Conservatory.

Her pioneering efforts led to the establishment of the UST Symphony Orchestra, Sampung mga Daliri Concert, and the annual Music summer camp. She introduced the post-college bridging program for elementary and high school teachers, with help from the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).

It was during her term as dean, which began in 1992, that CHEd declared the Conservatory a Center of Excellence in Music Education. Enrollment of Music students soared as she opened the Conservatory’s gates to beginners.

FORMER UST Faculty Union (USTFU) president Gil Gamilla has filed another set of libel cases, this time against the union’s internal vice president and two others, citing “malicious imputations” over alleged anomalies involving USTFU funds.

In his complaint before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dated Oct. 2, Gamilla said Rene Tadle, and USTFU employees Samantha Lei Bernal and Allison Pasicolan made statements against him in a joint counter-affidavit that involved a different case— an earlier complaint for slander filed by former UST executive vice-president Gil Garcia. Garcia’s complaint has since been withdrawn for lack of witnesses.

THE UNIVERSITY improved its showing in the November licensure examination for chemical engineers, with two Thomasians entering the Top 10.

Daryl Carillo led the new batch of Thomasian chemical engineers at seventh place with an 80.80-percent mark, followed by Jerome Magpayo who ranked eighth with a score of 80.70 percent.

The last time a Thomasian joined the roster of top examinees was in 2006 when Jerico Maliwanag snatched the fourth spot after garnering a score of 84.50 percent.

UST recorded a better overall passing rate of 60.50 percent (72 out of 119 examinees), from last year’s 59.74 percent (46 out of 77 examinees), data from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) showed.

THE TOTAL “Filipinization” of UST will take place in 2013.

This was confirmed by former UST rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. during a general assembly of schools under the Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP), which tackled “uniformity of education.”

“UST will become part of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. In other words, UST will now have a very active role to help us up in our collaborative activities and programs,” Lana said during the meeting last Dec. 5.

Lana, who served as rector of UST from 1998 to 2006, is in his second term as rector of Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros, Manila.

LABOR arbiters have sided with sacked instructors of the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) in a dispute with the administration over the University’s “no master’s, no teaching load” policy.

In an Oct. 30 decision, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) said the dismissal of CFAD professors Raymond Son, Raymund Antiola, and Wilfredo Pollarco in 2010 was “illegal.” The ruling granted a motion for reconsideration filed by the dismissed mentors, reversing a March 26 ruling in favor of the University administration.

THOMASIANS must look beyond glamor and popularity and vote for television shows and personalities that embody Filipino and Catholic values, the organizer of the annual USTv awards has said.

“This year’s USTv focuses more on the values and influences of TV programs, networks, and the personalities. It’s not all about the glamor and the fame; we look into the that which they portray and not the acting craft,” said Benjamin Zoilo Mario Ravanera III, president of the Student Organizations and Coordinating Council (SOCC), during the USTv Students’ Choice Awards kickoff party at Plaza Mayor last Dec. 13.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda rejected the comparison made by Batangas Archbishop Ramon Arguelles between the gruesome Connecticut school massacre and President Aquino eventually signing the Reproductive Health bill that had been passed on third reading by both houses of Congress. Arguelles was quoted as saying that the signing of the RH bill would be similar to the tragedy in Connecticut, where a 20-year-old gunman killed 20 children and seven adults. “Our President intends to kill 20 million children with a fountain pen [if he signs] the RH bill into law,” the bishop reportedly said.

“TIMES really have changed, haven’t they? Not so long ago, you could only see vast plainfields and fishponds and nipa huts all around our community,” my Lolo told me during our hometown vacation last semestral break. “I’m quite surprised many houses here in Pangasinan are now as big and as luxurious as those in Manila!”

“That’s because many of our neighbors have relatives working abroad, and have been earning enough to build such houses,” my Lola replied. “‘Yung iba naman, katas ng jueteng!.”